Beyond the Map: Engaging Audiences with GIS at the Leventhal Map & Education Center

ABSTRACT The Leventhal Map & Education Center (LMEC) at the Boston Public Library (BPL) has expanded its activities in recent years to include educational and technical support for audiences working with geospatial data, tools and concepts. At the K-12 level, LMEC’s Empowering Maptivists initiative engages Boston public high school students in a deep exploration of the uses of geospatial data and mapping in order to help foreground relevant community issues and propose possible solutions. In its role as a partner with the BPL, the LMEC also offers a suite of free, helpful resources for any library visitor, including one-on-one project support and digital guides geared toward decoding and translating the sometimes-complicated intricacies of geospatial data and tools. The LMEC’s recently grant-funded Data Hub project accelerates this momentum by further expanding educational activities, and allowing the LMEC to build out the necessary technical infrastructure to support them, including a searchable and browsable digital library to hold geospatial data, as well as other learning materials for deciphering data.